Of course, should a man through inheritance or by his own personal gifts achieve the rank of mwane-apuna, or priest and medicine man all in one, he may get the sign of rorofa, two small fish (eiga) tattooed on his cheeks, a sign that he is sacred (apuna) and in intercourse with spirits (ataro) (Fig. 4). A few notes are appended on the names and position of the islands and others in their neighbourhood. Santa Anna (Owa-raha) and Santa Catalina (Owa-riki) are two small islands five miles to the east of the south-east extremity of San Cristoval (Bauro or Makira). Owa-raha is about three and a-half miles long by two miles broad, and Owa-riki, situated about two miles to the south of the former, is slightly smaller. Both are of volcanic origin, and are surrounded by reefs. The population of Owa-raha is 360, and that of Owa-riki 174. Stewart's Islands (Siki-ana) lie about 150 miles from Santa Anna in a north-east direction. They are a group of five small coral islands forming a lagoon, and have a population of about 150. Rennell and Bellona Islands (Muava and Muigi respectively) are two islands distant 100 miles in a south-west direction; they lie about 90 miles from the nearest land on San Cristoval. Rennell Island is about 35 miles long by 10 miles broad, is rarely visited, and has a population of about 500 (estimated, as no census has been taken). Bellona Island is situated about 15 miles west of Rennell Island; it is much smaller, and on account of having no anchorage is very rarely visited. The population, which appears numerous, is not known. Both islands rise sheer out of the water to a height of several hundred feet, are of volcanic origin, and densely wooded. They are known to the San Cristoval natives as Owa-raha, and Owa-riki, the names simply meaning "large" and "small" islands. The names Itapa and Aguari, applied to Santa Anna and Santa Catalina respectively, are the nearest the Spaniards under Mendana in 1568, could get to the names Owa-raha and Owa-riki. The former is now known even to the natives as Santa Anna, the latter to natives and whites as Owa-riki, that name being shorter than Santa Catalina, and, therefore, more attractive. NOTES ON CUSTOMS, RITUAL AND BELIEFS PERTAINING TO SICKNESS, DEATH, BURIAL AND EXHUMATION AMONG THE MAORI OF NEW ZEALAND. BY ELSDON BEST. [The following notes contain certain data not hitherto recorded, including some interesting ritual formulæ. This contribution is also inserted in the original in accordance with the desire to place on record different aspects of the local dialect of the far-spread Polynesian language.] EAVE me the dead; let them return within me. I brought them forth to the world of life, to the light of day; let them return to me. Mine shall be the care of the dead." Such were the words of Papa the Earth Mother to Rangi the Sky Parent when discussing their rebellious offspring; hence man is buried in the earth, he returns to the bosom of the ancient Earth Mother who brought him forth to life in the days of the gods, in the days when the world was young. Of the offspring of the primal pair some are mortal, some immortal. Observe the Whanau marama, the Lightgiving offspring, the Shining Ones of the heavens, the Children of Light. They decay not, neither do they fall; they are unlike the folk of this world. Decay and death entered this world from two causes, the seeking and manipulation of the female element by Tane and Puhi the Eel, and the contention between Maui and Hine-nui-te-Po. For ever does trouble, misfortune, death emanate from the female element. For of old was it said-Even as the moon dies, and, having bathed in the life-giving waters of Tane, returns to this world once more young and beautiful, so let man die and revive. But here intervened the female element and condemned man to eternal death, that is the body of man, for we know that the spirit flits backward to the fatherland, whence it descends to Rarohenga, the subterranean spirit world, or ascends to the uppermost of the twelve heavens. Even so death became the lot of man, and, when death comes to him, his body is deposited within the body of the Earth Mother in the same attitude that it was in before birth. The expression "Life-giving, Waters of Tane" is purely a figurative one. Those waters are represented here by Light. In Maori myth Tane was the origin of light, for Tane was the Sun. Hence he is Tane the Fertiliser, he who fertilised the earth and caused it to produce trees and plants -and woman. When the moon dies or becomes dark, it bathes in the light of Tane, and thus is restored to life. The general mode of disposing of the dead was the burial or other disposal of the body until the flesh had disappeared, then the recovery and permanent disposal of the bones. We shall see that inhumation was not always practised, also that exhumation was sometimes omitted. As among all people who practised necrolatry there was intense tapu pertaining to the dead and their resting places. There was but little ritual pertaining to burial in former times, indeed, not so much as to sickness prior to death. This is accounted for by the prevalence of the custom of exhumation and final disposal, which was looked upon as the real burial. We will first refer briefly to ceremonies performed over a sick person. There were several ritual performances by means of which shamanistic adepts would diagnose a person's complaint; others which were performed in order to exorcise the evil spirits that were the cause of illness. Both were accompanied by charms. In the majority of cases, apparently, one of two causes was assigned, black magic or transgression of the laws of tapu. There appears, however, to have been a more elevated mode of treatment practised by a higher class of priest over persons of high-class families. As an illustration of this usage we here insert an account of ritual performed by two priestly adepts over a chief of the Napier district many years ago. Te Moana-nui, high chief of Here-taunga, was seized with severe illness at Wai-pureku, and two priestly adepts named Te Kawatini and Tareahi were sent for to attend him. On their arrival they decided to perform their functions on the following morning. Before dawn they adjourned to a stream and immersed their bodies in the waters. They then proceeded direct to the place where the invalid lay. As they neared the spot they chanted the following ritual:— "Tenei tama he aronui Tenei tama he aro tamaua Tenei tama he pia nuku, he pia rangi nou, e Rangi-e Nou, e Tuanuku, e Turuturu tata tama i ona rangi He au hunga, he au rei, he au ariki Ki nga tua iho, ki nga ruanuku, e tama—e.” At the conclusion of this recital the twain entered the hut wherein lay the sick man. When the first words of the above ritual were heard, two male attendants raised the body of the invalid to a sitting posture and held it in that position. As the two experts came from the stream, Te Kawatini walked in front carrying in his hand a piece of a water plant called retoreto; Tareahi followed him. On reaching the invalid the former touched the head of the patient with the weed, and chanted: "6 I ehua ou tapu I ehua ki tapatapa nui o Rangi. Na wai taua? Na Kahukura taua Ehua ou tapu ki tapatapa tu o Rangi. Na wai taua? Na Tunui-a-te-ika taua Ehua ou tapu ki tapatapa tu o Rangi. Na Rongomai taua Ehua ou tapu ki tapatapa tu o Rangi. Na wai taua? Na Maru taua Ehua ou tapu ki tapatapa tu o Rangi. Na wai taua? Na Hine-korako taua Ehua ou tapu ki tapatapa tu o Rangi. Na wai taua? Na Io-matua taua Ko te pu, ko te weu, ko te aka titamau E tama ki te tihi E tama ki te raki E tama ki te kapunipuni o Tikitiki o Rangi. Ehua ki tu, ehua ki nga rangi tuhaha ki tenei tama. Na te tangata koe e hoki ki te hokinga i Te Ihorangi Kia tae koe ki roto o Poutere-rangi, Ki Taheke-roa ki te Muriwai hou ki Rarohenga. Kia tamaua take ki te Po nui, ki te Po roa, ki te Po tiwha Now the object of the above ritual is to absolve a person from the sullying effects of all mean, immoral or wrongful actions committed by him from his childhood up to the time when such ritual is recited over him. It also contains an appeal to the gods of this world, which act is thus explained: When the person being treated was a child, a certain rite was performed over him at the tuahu or ahurewa (places at which religious rites were performed), or when he was subjected to the later tohi ceremony, by means of which certain gods were given control over him, caused to safeguard him, to protect him from all ailments and misfortunes, from witchcraft, from the dangers of war. Such was the object of appealing to those gods, and the reason why so many were named lies in the fact that the officiating adepts were not sure as to which god or gods had been appointed as guardians of their patient. Having done with that phase of the formula, the ritual ascended to a higher level, to Io the Supreme Being, the mighty power whose authority is law, the greatest power of all the heavens and the denizens thereof, of the earth, and of the generations from which the patient was descended. Then the utterances following were to abolish the effect of black magic, to expel all ailments by means of which some person or being was afflicting the invalid, that they might depart and pass by the way men go down to death by the descent to the spirit world, that those afflictions might be banished there and there remain, to return no more, to be powerless to again afflict the patient. Then Tareahi took the right hand of Te Moana-nui in his own right hand, and recited: “Tenei au, e tama, he uenga a rangi He pia no nga tua iho He koronga no nga tua iho Unuhia ki tapatapa tu o rangi A whekaro nui, a whekaro iti a te hau. Tawhirimatea, E, Takiritia to uru tapu! Te Anu-waiho, E, Takiritia ki te pae whenua! ki te pae moana Na Hine-kurepe, na Hine-tata, na Rakaiora, Takiritia ki te wao a Tane Na Turuturu, na Te Au-roki waiho i roto. E toro te ihonui, e toro ou toto Ki te pu ki te manawa o tenei tama E toro ou uaua ki te pu akaaka o to tinana; E toro ou kikokiko kia tipu, kia rea; He toi nui, he toi ora ki a koe, E tama E!" |
